This Week’s Self-publishing News

So, here I am. Week 2 and already I have my feet under the table. And thinking that made me think about that table. And what a lovely table it is. Because, it could be, should I wish, a flat-packed thing slotted together from easy to assemble pieces, or it could be carved from reclaimed French oak by my own fair hand. Such is the diverse delight of being indie.

Dis-content and the Value of the Self at Amazon

Amazon seems to be everywhere this week (and that’s new?) so let’s get them out of the way. Things kicked off with the news that books whose table of contents were at the back had started to be removed in order to stop scammers fooling the algorithms that calculate “pages read” (see here). A lot of writers were somewhat discombobulated by posts about this as they couldn’t recall Amazon having told *them*.

It turns out there was an announcement…in the kdp forum, here. I’ll leave the last word on this for now to one of the longest serving champions of indies, Selena Kitt, here. Still at Amazon, and still on security, looks like there are plans to secure 1-click payment with selfies (here). Think Mission Impossible meets Jersey Shore…

Would you like a coffee-related pun with that?

Shakespeare and Co bookstore in New York

An interesting article this week on Amazon’s first bookstore (here). Some very interesting integration of physical and digital, and use of reviews. But bookstore news this week was topped by this rather exciting post about New York’s Shakespeare and Co (no relation to the world’s most famous bookstore, of similar title) and its integration of an espresso print on demand machine, which has been tried before of course, but now feels like the time might be spot on.

Shall I compare me…?

Before we leave Amazon behind, we have just seen the appointment of a new Chief Digital Officer at Barnes and Noble (details here).

Barnes & Noble

Fred Argir, who joins at a tricky time, spent his first big speech, at Digital Book World, reassuring himself the audience that he wasn’t really worried about Amazon.

More indie prizes

Meanwhile, news of another indie-friendly prize here, with $2500 going to the winner of the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction, with a closing deadline of March 31st.

And this time avoiding the shoe puns

Very interesting pieces of news relating to Cuba this week from Porter Anderson. On the heels (doh, I said no puns) of news that Smashwords’ Mark Coker was behind a petition to tackle the US trade embargo (details here), we have news of the expansion of self-publishing crowdfunding platform (ouch) Lantia to Cuba (full story here), potentially opening up a huge wealth of new literary talent.

We’re on a 4-week countdown … and we’ve just announced our speaker line up for our first Indie Author Fringe event of 2016, coming to an inbox near you on April 15th at 10am London Time.

Mark your diary for this unique event. 24 hours, 24 sessions, from the best self-publishing authors and advisors in the world.

Everything you could want to know about writing, producing and distributing your book, all in one place, together with access to speakers and sponsors, who are the backbone of the indie author movement. Oh, and some great prizes and giveaways too.

The 10 entries with the most votes at the close of the competition will be submitted to our competition sponsor to make the final decision. So make sure to check back often to cast your vote. Click here to visit our Voting Page.​​​​​​​

About Dan Holloway

Dan Holloway is a novelist, poet and spoken word artist. He is the MC of the performance arts show The New Libertines, which has appeared at festivals and fringes from Manchester to Stoke Newington. In 2010 he was the winner of the 100th episode of the international spoken prose event Literary Death Match, and earlier this year he competed at the National Poetry Slam final at the Royal Albert Hall. His latest collection, The Transparency of Sutures, is available for Kindle at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transparency-Sutures-Dan-Holloway-ebook/dp/B01A6YAA40